Scrivens delivers as Kings edge Rangers

NEW YORK – Ben Scrivens hasn’t given up a goal in more than 2½ games, and the person least impressed with his performance is the backup goalie himself.

Scrivens stopped all 37 New York Rangers shots and posted his second consecutive shutout in place of injured regular Jonathan Quick as the Los Angeles Kings completed a successful Eastern road trip with a 1-0 victory Sunday night.

“It’s only three games. I wouldn’t look too much into it,” Scrivens said in matter of fact fashion as he drank from a water bottle. “The guys play well in front of me. I’m just trying to go out and give the team a chance.”

The job for the rest of the Kings has become much easier recently because of Scrivens, who has gone 155 minutes, 2 seconds without allowing a goal. Aaron Ness of the New York Islanders was the last to get a puck past him, in the second period of Los Angeles’ 3-2 win on Thursday.

Scrivens followed that up with a shutout of the New Jersey Devils on Friday. His blanking of the Rangers finished the Kings’ 3-0-1 trip that started with a shootout loss at Buffalo on Tuesday.

Scrivens’ best stop came six minutes into the third period when his right arm stopped Mats Zuccarello’s shot off a rebound in front.

“He just had to be solid,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “It was very much a team thing.”

Los Angeles, 5-0-1 in its last six, will begin a three-game homestand Tuesday against Tampa Bay.

“We’ve just got to get back to L.A. now,” Scrivens said. “A couple of home games, and we get to sleep in our own beds a little bit and try to continue this.”

New York’s Dominic Moore thought he tied it with 2:41 remaining, but the goal was disallowed because he kicked it in with his right skate.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots in the hard-luck loss. The Rangers, 7-3 in their last 10, failed to follow up on their 1-0 win at Montreal on Saturday with backup Cam Talbot in net. New York dropped its second straight at home.

“We were a little inconsistent at times, but we had our chances and opportunities,” Rangers captain Ryan Callahan said. “We played well, but you have to find a way to get one.”

Tyler Toffoli broke the scoreless deadlock 1:23 into the second period with his fourth goal in just seven NHL games this season. Toffoli, who netted the winning goal late in regulation against the Islanders, cashed in again with some help from the Rangers.

The 21-year-old center spun and fired a shot from above the circles. Lundqvist slid to his right to get into position to make the save, but the puck hit the skate of New York defenseman Anton Stralman and caromed to Lundqvist’s left and into the vacated part of the net.

Lundqvist thrust backward in the crease in disbelief and disgust as the Kings celebrated.

“It was definitely a frustrating loss because I felt we had enough chances to tie it up and maybe win,” Lundqvist said. “We needed some puck luck, and I felt like we didn’t have it.

“Just a really tough, frustrating loss.”

Blackhawks 5, Sharks 1

In Chicago, Patrick Sharp scored two goals, including one on a third-period penalty shot, and Kris Versteeg had a goal and an assist.

Jonathan Toews and rookie Brandon Pirri also scored for the Blackhawks, who rebounded with a tidy defensive effort following a 7-2 loss in Nashville on Saturday.

Joe Pavelski connected for San Jose.

Versteeg scored his first goal with the Blackhawks since being reacquired from Florida on Thursday.

Corey Crawford stopped 23 shots and wasn’t heavily tested in the win.

Capitals 4, Blues 1

In Washington, Alex Ovechkin won the head-to-head matchup between the NHL’s two leading goal scorers, getting a pair in the first period to move into a tie with Alexander Steen.

Ovechkin’s 16th and 17th goals led the Capitals to their third straight win and seventh in nine games. Mikhail Grabovski and John Carlson also scored for Washington, Nicklas Backstrom had three assists, and Braden Holtby made 46 saves.

Blue Jackets 4, Senators 1

In Ottawa, Ryan Johansen, R.J. Umberger and Fedor Tyutin each had a power-play goal.

Erik Karlsson scored the lone goal for the Senators (8-8-4) in the third period. Craig Anderson made 18 saves.

Wild 2, Jets 1

In St. Paul, Minnesota, Mikko Koivu scored two goals, including the winner with 3:12 remaining, as the Wild extended their winning streak to four games.

Josh Harding made 21 saves for his 12th victory.

The Wild have an eight-game point streak (7-0-1) and pulled into second place, two points behind Chicago, in the Central Division. They also extended their home winning streak to six and are 10-1-2 at home.

Stars 2, Canucks 1

In Vancouver, Kari Lehtonen made 42 saves.

Valeri Nichushkin and Erik Cole scored for Dallas (11-7-2), which came off a 7-3 victory over Calgary on Thursday and extended its road winning streak to six games.

Henrik Sedin scored for Vancouver (11-8-3), which got 21 saves from Roberto Luongo but dropped its fourth in a row.

After Lehtonen kept Vancouver off the scoreboard in the second period in which Vancouver held a 20-6 edge in shots, Cole made it 2-0 early in the third.